Pope Joan

This week our breakfast adventures took us to Pope Joan. Much anticipated brekky location that I, and my fellow champions, had heard rave reviews about.

Don't know if you can read it but it says 'Pope Joan'

If travelling by car I would like to point out that there is official Pope Joan parking across the road from the cafe, which we did not know about until we had found a park a block away.

So into the cafe we went, and then out again, we managed to grab ourselves a table outside which thankfully had heaters close by but it was quite a crisp morning so personally I wasn't 'snug as a bug in a rug'. It was a large round wooden table that comfortably fit our team of 4.

It took a little while to grab the waitresses attention and when we did she seemed uninterested. She took our coffee orders (without writing them down, which always worries me if it is a table larger than 3). I was right to worry because when my latte came to the table and it seemed to take the shape of a flat white.

My latte???

Sally enjoying her coffee

I did enjoy the coffee though so kudos to the barista.

Ordering food time... again we had to work to get the waitresses attention on this one.

I was a little bit stuck for what to pick on this occasion, not because there was too much range, but because the breakfast options were rather limited and most things seemed to be fried or covered in butter. I feel this might have something to do with the 'English' based theme of the cafe.

One menu option that I did think about was the omelette with shaved truffle but was scared off by the $26 price tag, in retrospect I should have gone with it.

'Beaten Eggs'

On this occasion Sally went with the 'Beaten Eggs' - Baked eggs with smoked Onion, beetroot n chard, which I'm told was really nice.

'Not so full English Breakfast'

Maddy went with the 'Not so full English Breakfast' -Melbourne pantry bacon, Cumberland sausage, backed beans and scrambled eggs. She said it tasted alright but the egg to toast ratio was a bit off. I think the toast was perhaps cut to thin for my liking as well, toast for brekky should be a solid bit of wholesome bready goodness... That's just me though!

W.A. Sardines

My dish of choice was the W.A. Sardines and tomato on toast with fetta, pinenuts and currents. Although it came under the 'Eggs' heading it did not come with eggs so I added some eggs, which were given to me on a side plate (odd). Overall I was disappointed (which I showed through eating maybe half of my meal), I wasn't expecting the sardines to be attached to their inedible tails still and I couldn't find the fetta. The 'salad' on top turned out to be all parsley, I don't mind a bit of parsley garnish but a whole salads worth...

Fruit toast - burnt :-(

'Posh' decided to have the 'La Madre' Fruit Toast which came with Jam Lady Jam and butter. However, it was a little bit burnt, and when I say a little bit I mean inedible. we kindly pointed this out to the waitress who seemed put out to have to take it back... 10 minutes later the toast was returned less burnt and I'm told quite delicious.

BAKED GOODS - SAVIOUR!

Delicious baked goods!

The absolute saviour, Thank god (which is fitting considering the name of the cafe). Sally and I shared a carrot cake which was delicious with a not too sweet icing on top. Maddy (being the chocolate lover she is) chose the brownie which came warmed up with a side of cream, she couldn't finish it all so Sal and I helped, it was the kind of brownie that warmed your insides... happiness in a slice of chocolate!!

As for pricing: coffee was pretty standard at $3.50 for a regular size, not sure if it came in a large. My brekky in total came to $29 which only included the one coffee, and considering I didn't finish my meal I wouldn't say I'm thrilled by that.

All in all a disappointing experience by at least half of the champions team, especially given the hype about how awesome it was. Had the waitress been a little happier it might have been better, maybe she was having a bad day. I'm thinking English style isn't really my cup of tea (hehe). So check out the menu on the 'Pope Joan' website to see if it is your flavour.

Each Peach

Each Peach was the latest expedition for we Champions. There is no website that I can find – but this is the review that sent us there.

Each peach has the shabby interior that kind of mumbles I’m just scraping into inner city and I’m so hip that I don’t care. But it has charm and is obviously fully intended – it’s decked out in trimmings from no doubt the funkiest op-shops in the inner north, and to my own personal pleasure, there’s heaps of pink. Can you say trimmings when it does not relate to a Christmas tree?

We were seated in the upstairs area which is bright and roomy, with a long school camp reminiscent table with those long bench seats. I expect on a busy weekend you’d have to share them but it was lovely to have it all to ourselves on an semi-quiet Thursday. The menus are charming, and check out the kids play area. The little girl buried deep inside kinda wanted to go play with that doll house.

Pink dolls house, bless

My coffee was lovely. And to continue with the charm factor, isn't’ this cup just lovely. Reminds me of Nanna, but not too over the top. I didn’t see that the menu had Bonsoy until later when looking at the photos – totally bummed, Bonsoy is my all time favourite soy! Next time

I ordered the ‘Tumble Rumble' after the last time I had food envy over the chilli scrambled eggs at Tryyany of distance. This consisted of scrambled eggs with tomato, coriander a bit of chilli all on top of a hearty slice of sourdough toast. It was lovely, slightly too much egg vs toast for my liking, but I do like to get a good mouthful of toast and egg in one hit. The only downfall of the meal was that my order came a good couple of minutes before anyone else’s. I sat there awkwardly, wanting to eat but doing my best not to be rude. It got slightly ridiculous and once the comment was thrown out that I was being silly and my eggs would go cold, I tucked in. Luckily the rest of the meals came out then.

Alex, Tiffo and Maddy had the Ultimate BLT with various alterations: Tiffo went the standard, which consisted of thick cut free-range bacon , lettuce, tomato, chilli jam, a fried egg and aioli. Apparently delicious and the bacon was just the right amount of crispiness. Maddy had hers with avocado, and much amusement was had when we realised that it meant hers was a BLAT. Alex had his sans tomato which would have the much less entertaining abbreviation of a BL.

B.L.A.T!

Steph enjoyed the ‘Big greek baked beans' - slow cooked with rosemary and dill with sourdough olive bread and Meredith goats fetta. She reported that it was delicious and also wholesome feeling, for those who want to feel good after breakfast. Combining breakfast and sour cream is such a winner in my book, so I look forward to trying that next time. I would have had food envy again had my tomato chilli eggs not been so lovely.

For the traditional BOC sweet treat, Tiff and Alex shared a chocolate pecan pie. I stole a little, they had warmed it up which could have only enhanced how good it was. Brilliant.

Om nom nom nom

Additional fun aspects – awesome toilets. Blackboard paint and supplied with chalk? Don’t mind if we do!

Also they sell jams and preserves. Steph bought a fig and apple jam, and apparently it’s amazing. Really sweet and nice chunks of fig. Unfortunately no pictures of the jam shelf but it’s near the front counter if you’re looking out for it!